 |
You must be logged in to post comments on this site - please either log in or if you are not registered click here to signup
No messages yet. |
|
|
No comments yet. |
|
|
|
Alernative way to the Canary Islands
|
|
|
|
|
To Tenerife by Car.
Before we left Tenerife in February 2008, we booked the Apartment, where we had been staying in Costa del Silencio, again from December 2008 until the end of February 2009.
Renate’s stroke at the end of April made it look as if we may have to cancel, our winter in the sun, as she would not be able to fly. Looking for alternatives left me with the decision to travel over by car and ferry.
The Ferry service to Tenerife sails between Cadiz, in southern Spain, and Santa Cruz in Tenerife. The once weekly outward voyage leaves Cadiz on Tuesday afternoon; and the return voyage leaving Santa Cruz on Saturday morning. The crossing takes 48 hours so there are two nights on board, but when I tried to book in August, the prices and sailing times were not available, and would not be until mid to late October.
Undeterred I pressed on planning the journey. The initial route was to drive to Portsmouth and take the P & O Ferry to Bilbao or, drive to Plymouth and use the Brittany Ferry service to Santander. Snag number 2, Brittany Ferries do not operate from mid December until mid March, so we could not return with them; whilst the timing of the P & O Ferry meant us spending four nights in Spain. Neither of these routes was suitable so it became obvious that the sensible, and most cost effective would be to drive to Dover and use the short crossing to Calais; the Euro Tunnel does not appeal to me at all.
Having decided on the route over the channel, it was full steam ahead plotting out the route through France and Spain, where we would stop overnight and finding suitable Hotels. We decided to treat the journey as part of the holiday so the daily mileage was kept reasonable so that we would get to our overnight destination in the late afternoon. The route would be to leave Prestatyn on Wednesday after lunch and drive to Dover and stay in a Travel lodge and get a Ferry to Calais about 9.00 on Thursday morning. Taking into account the one hour time difference Le Mans would be an ideal stop for our first overnight stop in France. On Friday we would drive from Le Mans to Castets which is only 50 miles or so from the Spanish border, then after our second night in France, we would continue on to Burgos in northern Spain and stop there on Saturday night. Sunday morning we would continue South via Salamanca and Caceres to Almandralejo, where we would stay the night, then on Monday we would have an easy drive to Cadiz where we would spend the night ready to catch the ferry on Tuesday.
In October we got confirmation of the sailing times to and from Tenerife and also the price. For 2 people and a car with accommodation in a cabin with a window we had thought it would be about £1500, however with the drop in the value of the £ it turned out to be 2400€ or over £2000, this did include the meals both ways. There was not much choice, it was either pay up or cancel the trip; we were both looking forward to spending winter in the sun so the booking was made.
The journey down went to plan; the route was great although we could not see much of the scenery as it rained for most of the way. Hotel accommodation was good and the food was a gastronomic delight in most places. In Cadiz we stayed at the Parador, which we seen when we were in Cadiz with the Star Clipper and fancied staying. The Ferry crossing was good; the cabin quite spacious for two people, there is an indoor pool on the sun deck whilst everywhere was clean and tidy. The crew were helpful, though most only spoke Spanish, but the food was nothing to get excited about and was half cold.
On the journey home we stayed in Merida, an old Roman city where we had time to look around and were delighted that there was a street festival on the day we arrived, this was instead of Almandralejo and made the drive up to Le Mans a little shorter. On the return leg the weather was dry and sunny and we really enjoyed driving on well surfaced roads with far less traffic than we have in Britain, and with plenty of places were you can pull off for a rest, a coffee or toilets. We drove on the Mulsanne Streight at Le Mans and on the last day drove direct through to home from Le Mans, arriving back at 2030.
On the plus side we had saved the cost of a Hire Car when we were in Tenerife, and we had seen some new places that we may visit again in Spain and France. Would we do the trip again ? no it is far too expensive. Did we enjoy doing it ? yes but once is enough.
|
|
|
I could be getting like Victor Meldrew
|
|
|
|
|
Last year we travelled through the Panama Canal with some friends from Antigua on the Star Flyer. Afterwards we spent a few days in Panama before flying to Antigua for a week before returning home.
The voyage on Star Flyer was great and we enjoyed our stay in Panama, it was only when we came to fly to Antigua that our problems began.
Our flight was Panama City to Miami, Miami to Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico to Antigua. First American Airlines decided that our luggage was overweight one bag at 24.5 Kg and the other at 23.8 Kg and proceeded to charge us 50$ U.S. for each bag although on our ticket it said overweight would be charged 25$ US per bag; not wanting to make afuss we paid up.
On arrival at Miami the Passport Control and Immigration took for ever, so long that we missed our connecting flight. The people manning the desks, Dept of Homeland Security seemed to enjoy making things as difficult as possible. I was getting realy fed up.
We were only transiting through Miami but we got special treatment, yes my Wife and I were pulled out of the queue for special treatment as if we were a couple of old aged terrorists, this took more time and I was glad to get out of the place.
The attack on the Twin Towers on September 11th was a horrible thing that you would not wish on your worst enemy, but the USA is not the only country that has suffered Terrorist attacks. For years in Britain we suffered terrorism from the IRA, a lot of it funded from the USA, but we do not treat visitors to our country in the manner that the Americans do. I have been to Cuba and Russia, even visited Czechoslovakia by car in 1970 and nowhere was I treated as badly as in the U.S.
What is the point of this; last week I had a telephone call to say that we had won a Cruise from Fort Lauderdale. I told them No Thank You!
|
|
|
When we decided to cease organising our Touring Holidays, I thought that it would be a shame to lose all the information and tips that I had picked up over the years; so I decided to write a book which would be of use to both two, three and four wheeled people wanting to do a touring holiday in Europe.
After sending the first two chapters to publishers, they were returned because A: there is no market for books on Touring and B:I did not concentrate enough on the people who were on motorcycles.
I disagree and so I am going to put the chapters onto this web site at intervals as I finish them.
The Introduction is already available. Click onto Articles. Touring Tips for Europe.
Chapter 1, Do's and Don'ts is now also available
|
|
|
In April this year we flew out to Barbados for a weeks holiday before joining the Star Clipper to cross the Atlantic Eastwards to Malaga in Spain.
The holiday in Barbados staying at the Barbados Beach Club was great value though the organisation of Virgin Holidays leaves a lot to be desired. Our holiday Itinery showed one time for our flight from Manchester while the ticket had a completely different one, we contacted Virgin about this but got no sensible answer so we wont be using them again.
The crossing was great, our Captain was Sergey Utitsyn who is a real sail man (ex Kreuzenshtern) and we sailed 25% of the time. It was real fun being back on the Royal and meeting up again with so many friends among the crew.
Our flight back to Manchester was uneventful but in the evening Renate complained of a slight headache. The next morning when I came dowstairs for breakfast she was lying on the kitchen fllo having suffered a stroke.
It was quite serious as she had lost all the use of her left side and her speach was slurred. An Ambulance arrived very quickly and after spending only 1 day in Glan Clwyd Hospital a bed was vacent in the Specialist Stroke Rehab Unit at St Asaph, so she was moved there.
The treatment at St. Asaph was brilliant and the staff great, even though they are working under the threat that the Unit is to be closed and moved into Glan Clwyd Hospital. This may be the correct move for the bean counters at the health trust, but for any normal person looking at the broader picture this is lunacy that will, in the long run lead to either a decine in service to the patient or an increase in costs.
Renate has been lucky that the Unit had a spare bed, and she is now making a slow recovery but it will deffinatly mean a change of lifestyle for a couple of years. No more motorcycling holidays, we will have to use the car. And it will be a while before we fly again.
It could have been a lot worse, she can get about with a stick or in her wheel chair and she is 100% there in her mind.
|
|
|
Now that we have more leisure time, Renate and I sometimes watch these T.V.programmes about buying property abroad, which is where we first saw Krakow and were interested in visiting the city. Shortly after this there was an offer of a 3 day trip in our local free paper; we wanted longer to look round at our own pace and our local travel agent sorted us a package that was only slightly more expensive than the 3 day trip.
We flew out midweek from Liverpool with Easy Jet direct to Krakow. On clearing Customs and Passport Control we soon found a Taxi to our Hotel, The Qubus Hotel, which cost about £11. The Hotel which is a 4 Star, is situated a little out of the town centre was on the banks of the Vistula River. There is easy access to Taxi's or Bus and Tram stops; a new shopping mall is only a few minutes walk on the other bank of the river. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay finding the local people very friendly and helpfull, and English could be used in most places.
For more details of places to see etc. look out for a Review
|
|
|
|
Guests: 6
Members: 0
On this page: 1
Members: 49, newest: jax |
|
|
